How will Suns coach Mike Budenholzer maximize the bench around Booker, Beal, Durant?

Mike Budenholzer kept it real during his introductory news conference as the Phoenix Suns' new head coach on Friday.

The Arizona native and two-time NBA Coach of the Year was emotional as he discussed his time off spent with his family and revitalizing his health away from coaching over the past year.

He spoke bluntly about working with Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durant, roster construction and how to be more competitive amid championship aspirations.

"Talking about championships, it's kind of meaningless. At the end of the day, talk is cheap. What you do every day is powerful," he said. "As I talk to our players, I talk to our ownership, our front office, everybody, what are we doing every day to be our best? And that's what's gonna give us our best chance to win championships in Phoenix."

James Jones, the Suns' president of basketball operations and general manager, was seated next to Budenholzer at Friday's news conference. Budenholzer replaced Frank Vogel, who was fired earlier this month after one season as head coach. That came after Phoenix was swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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The Suns had several issues that hampered them this past season, among them a bench that finished 30th in scoring, 29th in 3s made, and 18th in net rating.

Budenholzer said he'll have input working with Jones and team owner Mat Ishbia in developing the roster this off-season. That includes possibly adding a true point guard. Booker and Beal, natural shooting guards, were the primary ball handlers initiating the offense this season.

Two of their top reserves Royce O'Neale and Bol Bol have contracts expiring when free agency begins on June 30. Their other bench players Drew Eubanks, Josh Okogie, Eric Gordon, and Damion Lee are on veteran minimum deals and have player options for next year.

"No doubt, it starts with our roster. It starts with Devin and Kevin and Brad, but all throughout the roster, we've got to build a team that's built with competitors," Budenholzer said. "People with high character and unselfishness. You go to Grayson (Allen) and (Jusuf Nurkic) and all through the roster, we feel like we can compete for a championship here in Phoenix. That's what I'm excited about."

Budenholzer has a history of working with three or more All-Stars on the teams he's coached.

During his initial years in the league from 1994 to 2013, Budenholzer was the San Antonio Spurs, where he became an assistant under head coach Gregg Popovich, who has the most career wins in NBA history. Budenholzer was there for the Spurs' first four title runs (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007), and when they lost to Miami in the 2013 finals.

Top players such as David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Sean Elliott, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were on those Spurs' teams. When Budenholzer got his first head coach job in Atlanta from 2013 to 2018, their two All-Stars were bigs Paul Millsap and Al Horford. When the team peaked in 2015 with the East's best record and No. 1 playoff seed, two of their starters and role players in point guard Jeff Teague and sharpshooter Kyle Korver got All-Star nods.

After Budenholzer was fired from the Hawks, he joined Milwaukee and had two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, defensive specialist and two-time All-Star guard Jrue Holiday as their building blocks to be one of the East's best for the next five seasons. The Bucks defeated the Suns in the 2021 NBA finals.

Budenholzer praised Booker, Beal, and Durant as "basketball junkies" when he met with them. Budenholzer added that they want to be held accountable, his relationships with their input is “crucial moving forward,” looking to follow the championship success of the other Big 3s he's worked with.

“Coach them hard. That’s what I’ve seen really for all of my NBA life," Budenholzer said. "I’m certainly trying to do it as a head coach. I’m not perfect, but my experience is you gotta coach your best players, you gotta coach them hard, you gotta high expectations for them, and usually they thrive."

Budenholzer's benchmarks

Budenholzer has a strong history of high-pace offenses that maximize his reserve players' production in his system that has a five-out offense, hoisting a lot of 3-pointers, and having physically tough defenders.

When Budenholzer won his second Coach of the Year award in 2019, the Bucks' reserves ranked fifth in 3s made, second in net rating, and sixth in pace.

“With a ton of respect to Devin and Kevin and Brad, I feel like I know what I’m gonna get from them every night. They’re great, they’ve been great," Budenholzer said.

"I’m gonna push them to be even more, but how do we make the other people around them their best? How do we get the most out of the other guys that are starting and playing with them? The guys that you gotta manage 48 minutes. I think the great coaches, that’s actually the characteristic or the thing that ‘How will he get the best out of those guys?’”

Budenholzer compared developing and maximizing role players’ potential to “vitamins” and giving them time to work on their craft, bodies, film study, and building their confidence.

In the 10 seasons he's been a head coach, Budenholzer's benches finished in the Top 10 in scoring only twice. However, half of them had top-five finishes in 3-point field goals made per game, including twice ranked No. 2 in 2020 and 2023. Six of his teams' benches have yielded top-10 net ratings, and six of them had top-10 finishes in pace.

Five of Budenholzer's nine teams that made the postseason were among the top eight of the 16 playoff teams for bench scoring. During San Antonio's finals runs in 2005, 2007, and 2013 when he was an assistant, the team was no lower than 11th in that category during the latter three regular seasons of said years.

Individually, four different players in Budenholzer's head coaching career have received top 10 votes in the running for Sixth Man of the Year, including Milwaukee's Bobby Portis who was among the three finalists in 2023.

“I’m gonna hold them accountable, but that’s what I’m gonna do with everybody, and so it’s not any different," Budenholzer said. "That’s kind of been my roadmap for coaching, whether it’s the best players or the entire roster.”